You know and love @MrKal_El on Twitter, now know and love him here as he gives us his opinion on how Palm and HP need to make a splash, and soon.

Recently I’ve been engaged in a bit of a debate (on Twitter, naturally) regarding Palm and HP at CES 2011 and potential for the reveal of the much-rumored PalmPad. If you were to ask me, I’d say that January of next year is too late to reveal the PalmPad in what is fast becoming a crowded tablet market.

So I’m going to take a moment to expand a bit on what I feel would be a agressive (but possible) release schedule for webOS hardware and software to succeed in the current market.

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Finally, Palm and webOS gets a nice #2 ranking among smartphone platforms for anything. When you start talking about the likes of 3D mobile gaming, it’s obvious who number one is: Apple and iOS. What is unclear is who follows, and it depends on which group exactly we’re talking about.

If you’re talking all mobile devices, it’s murky whether Nintendo or Sony follow, or is there another smartphone contender they have to deal with. “Android?” you might postulate. HP senior exec and former PalmOne CEO Todd Bradley would disagree, he’ll tell you that webOS is the number two 3D gaming platform. In fact, he did just that during a TechCrunch Disrupt interview:

“We’re the second largest 3D gaming platform in the world today.”

Of course, the question then becomes, what metric is Bradley using? Is he talking about available titles, device unit sales, or some combination of the two? It’s hard to pin down exactly how many 3D apps are available for iOS, webOS, or Android (nobody’s got the patience to sort through thousands of apps like that), but we’ll side with Bradley and say it’s safe to declare webOS #2 in that race. Of course, there are still a dozen other ways that Palm and webOS fall behind (for instance, there are some 5,000 apps available for webOS, vs. the 80,000 in the Android Market and 250,000 in the iOS App Store), but it’s nice to be able to claim number two for something.

Source: TechCrunch

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I was able to spend some time with EA’s Need For Speed: Undercover on the Sprint Pixi after last night’s update to webOS 1.4.5, and I have to say that I’m pretty impressed by what what this little phone can do.  The frame rates aren’t as high as they are on the iPhone 4 or the Pre Plus to be sure, and Pixi’s the screen is tiny in comparison to both phones, but the overall experience was still surprisingly good.  Load times were longer but never unacceptable, cut scenes looked great, but installation took forever without the luxury of WiFi.  

Catch the video after the break!

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When we heard that Palm was asking developers to test their apps against the new SDK, the main emphasis was on testing out PDK apps (i.e. 3D games and other native apps), as the big change is going to be that Palm will be allowing indie developers to submit PDK apps. We also heard that webOS 1.4.5 would bring the PDK and 3D gaming to the Pixi. We’ve just confirmed that with an anonymous source – 3D gaming is definitely hitting the Pixi with webOS 1.4.5.

Not every 3D game will be available on the Pixi. Firstly, there’s the smaller screen resolution to content with. Unlike regular webOS apps, most PDK apps need to be coded for a specific screen resolution and will need adjustment for the Pixi. Secondly, the Pixi does have some different OpenGL support and other hardware differences that may make some of the more intense games on webOS feel a might bit sluggish – so we’re guessing that some of them won’t make the cut.

The release should come in "several weeks."

Thanks anonymous!

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Gameloft sure isn’t taking any time off when it comes to porting games to webOS with that fancy schmancy PDK. Today landed a 3D game category that many have clamored for since PDK games first arrived: the first person shooter. And it comes in the form of a game that has proven to be quite popular on the iPhone platform. It’s Gameloft’s Brothers in Arms: Hour of Heroes. Based in WWII, you play a soldier in the United States Army’s 101st Airborne Division and fight your way through Africa and Europe. The game isn’t a straightforward FPS, as you also get full use of a variety of vehicles, including the ultimate man machine – the tank. Interested in aiding in the liberation of a digital Europe? Hit up the App Catalog now, where Brothers in Arms: Hour of Heroes is available for just $4.99.

Thanks to sketch42 for the tip!

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So, you want to know if the Pre and Pre Plus can really handle 3D gaming with aplomb, but don’t feel like forking over the cash to find out for sure? Gameloft has an answer for you, and it comes in the form of a demo version of the excellent racing game Asphalt 5. Available for free from the App Catalog, Asphalt 5 Free gives you a few minutes of play on a full functional track. Weighing in at nearly 66 MB, you can be sure you’re getting a full experience, though it is still limited to a few minutes with no save functionality. And of course, if you like what you see, Asphalt 5 Free comes with a link straight to the App Catalog where you can part with $6.99 (plus applicable taxes) for the full game.

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During the launch of (official) 3D gaming for webOS at the Palm CES presentation, the games that got the most attention (and live demos) were Need for Speed Shift and The Sims 3 from EA Mobile. Among the new games, though, was another title which while less well known to most consumers is revolutionary in its own right: X-Plane ($9.99), by Laminar Research. (You can see the full description of X-Plane in PreCentral’s new App Catalog Gallery here.) For avid or even casual flight simulation fans, X-Plane for webOS is the real deal.

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It became clear now that in addition to releasing versions of the Pre and Pixi through Verizon, Palm will also be outing version 1.4 of its still young operating system. What this will bring to the users is the much-wanted video recording and editing capabilities that were up to this point, missing.
Hey, any gamers out [...]

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